Table 3.
Differences in Prevalence of Harassment, Other Maltreatment, and Suicide Attempt Before Age 18 Years by Age of Minority Sexual Orientation Development Among Women
| Childhood experience | Total sample (%) |
Awareness younger than age 12 years |
Disclosure younger than age 18 years |
Same-gender sex younger than age 18 years |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes (%) | No (%) | p value | Yes (%) | No (%) | p value | Yes (%) | No (%) | p value | ||
| Harassment experiences | ||||||||||
| By peers for being a tomboy | 34.6 | 43.4 | 32.1 | <.001 | 44.7 | 32.0 | .003 | 41.9 | 32.2 | .003 |
| By peers for being lesbian | 12.5 | 21.9 | 9.4 | <.001 | 31.4 | 7.5 | <.001 | 27.2 | 7.3 | <.001 |
| By family members for being lesbian | 9.8 | 15.9 | 7.8 | <.001 | 24.7 | 5.8 | <.001 | 21.8 | 5.6 | <.001 |
| Other maltreatment experiences | ||||||||||
| Emotional abuse by family members | 48.1 | 53.2 | 46.6 | .03 | 55.1 | 46.7 | .004 | 54.1 | 45.9 | .007 |
| Physical abuse by family members | 27.6 | 33.9 | 25.2 | .003 | 33.7 | 26.3 | .005 | 37.1 | 24.0 | <.001 |
| Sexual abuse by family members | 23.4 | 27.9 | 21.9 | .11 | 27.2 | 22.6 | .18 | 32.2 | 20.2 | <.001 |
| Molestation by strangers | 22.5 | 28.3 | 20.1 | .002 | 27.7 | 21.1 | .02 | 31.3 | 19.3 | <.001 |
| Rape by a male | 13.1 | 15.5 | 12.1 | .04 | 21.6 | 11.1 | <.001 | 20.7 | 10.4 | <.001 |
| Rape by a female | 1.4 | 3.2 | 0.7 | .003 | 3.3 | 0.9 | .003 | 3.5 | 0.7 | <.001 |
| Suicide attempt | 10.2 | 13.7 | 9.1 | .02 | 17.9 | 8.1 | <.001 | 15.8 | 8.4 | <.001 |
Note. N = 2,001. Differences estimated from logistic regressions with age cohort, race/ethnicity, family economic status during childhood, parental educational attainment, and religious background included in all models.